Development of automated control systems for transport

Technology stack 

Technology stack - technologies we use in our work:

Examples of developed software

AS Passport NPS shall ensure:

• Automation of the process of calculating the throughput capacity of railroads in terms of traction power supply devices, roundhouse and servicing facilities, as well as carriage facilities
• Maintaining a unified information database for calculating the available throughput capacity of running lines, stations, road sections for traction power supply devices, roundhouse and servicing devices of locomotive facilities, for carriage facilities
• Determination of limiting elements of railway infrastructure by facilities of RZD JSCo
• Automated formation of the profile of available throughput capacity of RZD JSCo and standard report forms

The presence of "bottlenecks" in throughput capacity is grounds for raising the question of the development of the relevant railroad infrastructure. In this regard, the AS Passport NPS should be considered as an integral part in the development of a tool to assess the efficiency of measures to re-construct and develop railway infrastructure facilities and the impact of management decisions on the transportation process.

The system is designed for use at the level of the Economic Environment and Strategic Development Department of RZD JSCo and on the workplaces of the specialists involved, on the railways, in branches of JSC RZD JSCo, Central Directorate of Traffic Control and its business units, as well as other specialists involved in the estimation of the throughput capacity of the railways.

The automated system "Profiles of available throughput capacity of railroads of RZD JSCo” is deployed in order to:

• Reduce labor intensity and improve the efficiency of estimates of the available throughput capacity of railroads of RZD JSCo by running lines, stations, traction power supply devices, roundhouse and servicing facilities, as well as carriage facilities in order to identify the limiting element and "bottlenecks" in the capacity of the railroads of RZD JSCo
• Create the unified information database for estimates of available throughput capacity for all limiting elements in the railroad domain - branches of RZD JSCo

Adapt the AS Passport NPS software in the implementation domain in terms of:

• Automation of the process of calculating the throughput capacity of railroads for running lines, stations, traction power supply devices, roundhouse and servicing facilities, as well as carriage facilities
• Interaction with the Centralized System for Maintaining the Normative Reference Data (CNSI) in terms of obtaining classifiers (stations, roads, etc. of implementation domain)
• Obtaining data on the elements of the traffic schedule from the KASRNGDP (station-to-station travel time, inter-train intervals, etc.)
• Obtaining data on actually executed amount of train traffic for the estimate period from the Corporative Data Warehouse (CDW) "Locomotive fleets"
• Integration of the results of estimates of throughput capacity of the elements of the railway infrastructure of RZD JSCo on the basis of databases of existing automated estimating sub-systems
• Maintaining a unified information database for calculating the available throughput capacity of running lines, stations, road sections by traction power supply devices, roundhouse and servicing devices of locomotive facilities, for carriage facilities
• Determination of limiting elements of railway infrastructure by facilities of RZD JSCo
• Determination of the level of utilization of railroad throughput capacity by calculated elements in the railroad domain, branches of RZD JSCo, and identification of "bottlenecks"
• Automated formation of the profile of available throughput capacity of railway lines of RZD JSCo and standard report forms

The simulation resource model of the use of infrastructure of RZD JSCo (AS PROGRESS) is designed to assess the possibility of ensuring planned transportation volumes with consideration of the carrying and processing capabilities of the infrastructure of RZD JSCo (including the volume of repair and construction work) and providing traction resources; it is constantly operated in the domain of the Central Directorate, a branch of RZD JSCo (CD), which includes the railway network of RZD JSCo.

The main purpose of the functional development of the Simulation Resource Model of the use of RZD JSCo infrastructure under the conditions of scheduled freight train traffic is to provide information and analytical support for planning the volumes of freight and empty cars for the coming year,and produce estimated train correspondence for the development of a standard freight train schedule balanced with the capabilities of the infrastructure and traction resources of RZD JSCo and the scope of repair and construction work.

The objective of the system functional development is to create tools to assess the feasibility of the transportation process under conditions of scheduled freight train traffic.

Objective fulfillment criteria include the possibility to use the system for:

• Assessment of the feasibility of forecast railcar traffic for the coming year given the limitations of infrastructure and traction resources
• Generation of estimated train correspondence for the development of the standard freight train schedule, with consideration of the variant modes of direction of car traffic (taking into account the allocated calendar periods of repair, construction and installation work, as well as intensive passenger traffic on the specified directions)
• Estimates of the size of train correspondence expected to run on specialized schedules and the possibility of planning these schedules for specialized freight trains

AS PROGRESS is used for process flow automation (in terms of functional development) of the Central Directorate of Traffic Control, a branch of RZD JSCo.

The Central Directorate uses the AS PROGRESS to distribute annual loadings by months on the basis of the current year's volumes, adjusted for the new transportation parameters provided by the Corporate Transport Service Center.

For the Central Directorate of Traffic Control and the Center of Corporate Transport Services AS PROGRESS generates a consolidated assessment and an assessment by destinations of the ability to cope with the projected car traffic, as well as a list and disposition of bottlenecks within the infrastructure.

Functional development of the simulation resource model of the use of RZD JSCo infrastructure under the conditions of scheduled freight train traffic would enable significant reduction in the amount of technical work associated with the receipt and preparation of information, increasing the validity of decisions made on the basis of simulation of the movement of car traffic through the infrastructure of RZD JSCo.

As part of the functional development, AS PROGRESS provides for the estimates of train traffic by destinations with weight and length standards based on the simulation of the estimated car traffic on the infrastructure of RZD JSCo under the conditions of passing of freight trains as per schedule.

Following the results of estimates, it is determined as to whether it is possible to support the set amount of freight traffic with the available (specified) resources of the network of RZD JSCo.

AS ProGRUZ is designed for operational development, under given scenario conditions, of forecasting freight flows for sections and directions of RZD JSCo network by types of transportation, types of cargo, departure and destination roads, enlarged departure and destination polygons, regions of departure and destination, consignors and consignees, departure and destination stations on the network of RZD JSCo.

Purposes of the system creation:

The purpose of creating AS ProGRUZ is to develop automated loading forecasting for calculating forecasts of the main cargo flows on RZD JSCo network for various scenario conditions by year, cargo range, types of transportation, main consignors, depending on changes in scenario conditions.

AS ProGRUZ shall ensure:

• Automated process for calculating the distribution of predicted volumes of cargo loading by sections of RZD JSCo network, with distribution by cargo range and types of transportation
  
• Automated distribution of forecasts of cargo transportation volumes with division by main directions
  
• Automated distribution of forecasts of general levels of cargo transportation by major shippers
• Automated distribution of forecasts of general cargo loading levels for individual loading stations
  
• Automated calculation of forecast correspondence for the transportation of goods on RZD JSCo railway network for the main consignors, with details by type of transportation, nomenclature of cargo, stations of departure and destination 
  

ASGOL-GDS is designed for comprehensive automation at the railroad-network level of the process of making optimal schedules of turnover of locomotives and locomotive crews of freight traffic at complex sections of operations of locomotive crews and calculating indicators of their use (as per the list of CDL-13 form),forecasting of planned indicators, estimates of actual indicators of use of traction rolling stock by Traction Resource Control Centers and carrying out performance analysis of locomotives in the working fleet.

The main purpose of the system is as follows:

• Drawing up schedules for turn-around of locomotives and locomotive crews on complex sections of locomotive crews' work and calculating, on their basis, the number of locomotives and the number of active locomotive crews and indicators of their use
• Forecasting planned indicators of traction rolling stock use by Traction Resource Control Centers on the basis of planned values by Directorates of Traffic Control
• Estimates of actual indicators of traction rolling stock use by Traction Resource Control Centers on the basis of planned values by Directorates of Traffic Control
• Performing an aggregate analysis of the performance of locomotives in the working fleet

The system is designed for use in the Central Directorate of Traffic Control, a branch of RZD JSCo, and its business units - regional traffic control directorates.

Purposes of the system creation:

The purpose of the ASGOL-GDS is to reduce the costs of the transportation process by means of:

• Forecasting of the qualitative indicators of the use of locomotives in the working fleet by Traction Resource Management Centers for the coming month
• Analysis of the performance of locomotives in the working fleet of the freight traffic

ASGOL-GDS is a railroad-network level system and has two levels of user hierarchy (railroad and network ones). At the railroad level, it automates the process of entering information and calculating indicators for each railroad with involvement of railroad level users. At the network level, it automates the process of forecasting of planned indicators, estimates of actual indicators of use of traction rolling stock by Traction Resource Control Centers and performance analysis of locomotives in the working fleet.

ASGOL-GDS includes the following subsystems:

• Preparation of schedules for turn-around of locomotives and locomotive crews in freight traffic and making estimates of indicators of their use (according to the list of the CDL-13 form) at the railroad level
• Estimates of the need for locomotives, the active locomotive crews in freight traffic and indicators of their use (according to the list of the CDL-13 form) at the network level
• Sub-system for the automated preparation of the banking sheet
• Module of monthly planning of qualitative indicators of use of working locomotive fleet within the boundaries of Centers of Corporate Transport Services on the basis of planned indicators by traffic control directorates (network level)
• ASGOL-GDS administration and monitoring sub-system

"Guidelines for calculating the need for freight train locomotives and indicators of their use according to train schedules (CDL-60)" No. 266,approved on June 25, 2014 by A.A. Krasnoschek, Senior Vice President of RZD JSCo, as well as Methodology Guidelines for Forecasting of the Main Qualitative Indicators of the Use of Locomotives in the Working Fleet for Freight Traffic by Traction Resource Management Centers for the planned month should be used as methodological support when developing this system.

The main purpose of the software for maintaining the technology of interoperability of non-public railroad tracks and connecting stations (AS ETP) is as follows:

• Improving the efficiency and accuracy of estimates in the establishment of unified process flows (hereinafter - UPF) (including the part with estimates of the UPF);
• Time standards for car and locomotive fleet process flows, including freight, commercial, and shunting operations in accordance with the regulatory documents of RZD JSCo;
• Expansion of the unified UPF database;
• Operational adjustments or variants calculation on accomplished UPFs.

Software for maintaining the process interoperability of non-public railway tracks and connecting stations includes sub-systems and modules that provide solutions for all the main tasks of the UPF, such as:

• Technology of train handling at the connecting station and the non-public railway track (hereinafter - NPRT);
• Organization of train and shunting operations on a non-public railway track (list of operations to be performed, organization of movement of cars, in connection with in-plant transportation schedule (if any));
• Organization of freight and commercial work (list of performed operations, organization of loading and unloading of cargo, special allocation of loading and unloading places and warehouses, procedure for weighing of cars with cargo and cargo batching, carrying out double-run operations, organization and formation of routes, organization of commercial operations, preservation of car fleet, technology of interaction of automated control systems, automated workstations);
• Specifics of operation of non-public railway track in winter-time conditions (preparation for operation in winter-time conditions, specifics of shunting and freight operations, preventive measures when loading freezable goods, organization of unloading of viscous and freezable cargo and other specific features);
• Methods of operational planning (daily and shift planning), operational management of the work of the non-public railway track and the connecting station (the procedure for interoperability of non-public railway track and the connecting station, mutual information about the approach of trains and the availability of goods for shipments, the procedure of joint use of technical means of non-public railway track and connecting station, control and analysis of work performed, including in an automated environment);
• Development of the UPF estimate section (construction of the daily plan schedule, estimates of qualitative and quantitative indicators, estimates of the average daily car traffic, construction of the scheme of car traffic);
• Organizational and technical measures to improve the use of cars on the non-public railway track.

ASOV-PF is designed to perform technological and economic estimates related to the effective passing of train and car traffic over the railroad network of RZD JSCo, as well as to maintain the regulatory base of the freight train and route formation plan (FP).

Complex for developing and maintaining the freight train formation plan:

is designed to maintain an information model of the technology of incorporation of cars in the plan of freight train formation with consideration of the special conditions.

Complex for developing and maintaining route formation (organization) plan:

is designed to maintain an information model of the technology of organizing and passing car traffic according to the plan of dispatch, station, stepwise, technical routing, own train formations and container trains.

Advantages of the system:

• Interlinked description of the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan
• Consolidation of tools for the formation plan and the implementation of technical and economic estimates in a single interface
• Daily analysis of actual execution and identification of violations
• Provision of the description of PF for the main ACS of RZD JSCo on the basis of information exchange procedures
• Integration in a single interface of the Formation Plan development, implementation of process estimates, as well as the analysis of execution thereof
• Formalization of special conditions for incorporation of cars in trains for fully integrated description of the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan
• Creation of the basis for ensuring the automation of optimization estimates and functions to ensure the efficiency of technology of car traffic organization
• Provision of a formalized description of the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan for external ACS of RZD JSCo on the basis of information interaction procedures

Implementation Domain: Railway network of RZD JSCo.

Changes in the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan are made daily, throughout the railroad network. The system also analyzes the actual car traffic in terms of compliance with the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan (more than 10 thousand cars daily) for more than 5000 users at all levels of the structure of RZD JSCo.

Streamlining the process of annual development and current maintenance of the Freight Train and Route Formation Plan by ensuring the validity of changes made in the technology of car traffic volume management using engineering and economic estimates, as well as configurable analytics of the actual execution of the Formation Plan and its violations.